Improvement in modes of attaching car basket-racks



'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORTON TOVER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,891, dated July 11, 1871.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, MoEToN TOWER, of Boston, in the county of Suiolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have made an invention of a new and useful Mode of Attaching Basket-Racks, so called in the trade, and do hereby declare the following description to embody the characteristics of my invention and the manner in which it is to be carried out, due reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective representation of said invention.

This invention refers to basket-racks,77 so called, or the ornamental cages or receptacles now universally adopted in railway cars for containing the parcels of passengers, and whicli consist of two or more brackets applied to the wall of the car and united by intermediate rods, a backing of woven wire being in many instances employed to prevent escape of small articles.

Heretofore the brackets of these car-baskets have been conned to the wall of a car by screws passing through them and into the wood-work ofthe latter. My invention consists in applying the brackets of a car-basket to the Vall or side of a car in such manner that they, or the basket of which they constitute a component part, may be easily and expeditiously removed from the wall, should such act become necessary, without the removal of screws or nails.

To this end, and in pursuance of the purpose of my invention, I aiiiX or cast upon the rear edge of each bracket A two or more dovetailed tapering projections or studs, a a, in vertical alignment with each other, and with their larger side or base outward. To the wall of the car I aiiix a series of metallic plates or clasps, b b, &c., each being formed with a dovetailed tapering inclosure, c,

or groove, open at top and of such size and shape as to receive and tightly clasp the studs a before mentioned, the disposition of the said plates or clasps being such as to coincide with such studs, and in concert with them serve to sustain the basket in position upon the wall of the car. To prevent accidental misplacement of parts in extreme instances, l propose to confine the studs a a within the grooves c, Ste., by a pin passing through the two, or an analogous device; but in practice this will undoubtedly be found superiiuous, as the weight of the basket will undoubtedly be found suiiicient to insure its proper position. To remove the car-basket or basket-rack from the wall underv my mode of attachment it only becomes necessary to lift it a very short distance in order to detach the studs a a from their clasps b b, when the connection of the basket with the wall is4 severed. The removal of the car basket-racks from their resting places occasionally becomes necessary, owing to painting, cleaning, or refitting of a car. As now applied, numberless screws, taking the baskets of a car in aggregate, must be removed, and the labor is both long and laborious. The employment of my invention obviates these objections and enables the article to which it relates to be easily and expeditiously removed.

i l claim- A car-basket provided with dovetailed tapering projections or studs a, adapted to iit in correspondingly-dovetailed .sockets attached to the side of the car, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

Witnesses: MORTON TOWER.

FEED. CURTIS, E. GRIFFITH. 

